Without their ace goalkicker and chief tactician The Steelmen fell to a 23-16 defeat as they lost ground at the top of the table. They now lead Cardiff by three points, Llandovery in third by four and fourth place Newport, who have a game in hand, by five.
“We’ve worked hard to get to the top of the table, and we’ve enjoyed being there and looking down on the rest. That’s how we want to keep it,” said Ebbw Vale team manager Dan Haymond.
“Everything that could have gone wrong at Pontypool last weekend did go wrong and we need to put things right back at Eugene Cross Park. We lost Evan just before the game and had to give a debut to a scrum half playing outside half.
“Evan is going to be fit for this weekend and that will help us. We didn’t make the most of what we reckoned was a 12-point wind at Pontypool and allowed them to feed off our mistakes.
“We’ve got a proud home record, and we like to think it is a difficult place for teams to come to play. It’s another Gwent derby and we don’t want to let teams beneath us get any closer to us.”
Two try hero Pat Lewis switches from full back to centre to accommodate Wales U20 outside half Harri Ford to the Pontypool back line. Kyan Best takes over from Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths at loose head prop, while Morgan Allen drops out of the back row to allow Adam Stratton to start.
Newport will be seeking a double over arch-rivals Cardiff following their 27-20 triumph at the Arms Park last weekend. It will be the first game between the two clubs at Spytty Park, a venue at which Ty Morris’ men have lost only four times in three years.
With a game in hand, the Black & Ambers could leapfrog every side ahead of them and take over at the top when they catch up, but Morris knows the return game against Dan Fish’s Cardiff team will be vital.
“It’s so tight at the top that every point is going to matter in the battle to finish in the top four. I can see five or seek teams emerging to challenge for the best seedings ahead of the end of season play-offs,” said Morris.
“It’s always nice beating Cardiff at the Arms Park but the real challenge now is to back up that performance. We are turning our home ground into a fortress, and we need to keep it like that this weekend.”
Cardiff have lost their last two matches against Ebbw Vale (32-20) and Newport (27-20) and won’t want to go down again having already surrendered top spot in December.
“We just weren’t clinical enough when it counted towards the end of the game last weekend. We had plenty of chances but didn’t convert them into points because we were trying to score two or three phases earlier than we needed to,” said Cardiff skipper Sean Moore.
“Newport are a quality team and we know it’s never going to be an easy game against them. They just took their chances when they had them.
“We’ve got away with not being at the level we know we can be in the first block of games. Now we are playing teams at the top of the table we’ve come out on the wrong side of the scoreline in the last two weeks.
“We know it’s going to be tough there and we’ve just got to go into it with the right attitude to hopefully come out on the right side of the scoreline.”
Third place Llandovery will be seeking a local derby double at Carmarthen Park when they face the Carmarthen Quins. The Drovers were 35-5 winners at home last week and have now crept up into fourth place.
Bridgend, without a win since 12 October at Aberavon will be keen to turn their recent near misses into wins having lost their last seven games in a row. They head north to RGC, who were 34-28 winners at the Brewery Field last weekend.
Aberavon head to Swansea looking to build on their 26-0 home triumph over the All Whites last weekend.
